USTA Middle States Section Tournament

Taken place at Lehigh University, 20 teams competed with 13 schools. Villanova faced Penn State in the semi-finals for their third straight year in a row, with disappointing results. After being in the lead 21 - 15, Villanova seemed to have the match clinched. In an unfortunate turn of events, Villanova lost 6-2 in Mixed doubles, forcing a Super-Tiebreaker for the match, with Penn State winning it 7-4; leaving Penn State to clinch the match 24-23. Villanova came in 3rd (consolation match) by beating UPenn 29-20. The winner and runner-up of this tournament won $500 and a bid to nationals, but since Penn State couldn't recieve two bids, Villanova picked up the 2nd place prize. Some other schools that competed included Delaware, Rutgers, TCNJ, Lehigh, Drexel, and Pittsburgh; overall a great variety of competition among the Middle States section. link

Abby Pugliese, Andy Ferens, Aaron Spaccone, Ian Guenther, Angela Fuccillo, Priya Narahari, Matt Cornish, Mike Sindoni, Mike Topf, Zakari Parchment, Jamie Tonelli, Scott Farendorf, Ali Volpe

Tournament at the University of Maryland

Going into this tournament, Villanova brought 2 teams to this tournament, adding to the 12 already. Some of the schools included Navy, Maryland, Georgetown, JMU, Shippensburg, and Virginia. With most of the new members present in the lineup, Villanova seemed to have a promising start. In the finals, the A team faced Georgetown in a rematch of a prior tournament the week before (Battle of the Sections). Villanova lost 20 - 27, placing in 2nd.  Villanova B played Maryland Red and won for 3rd place.

link

Villanova Plays Well at Battle of Sections

The Battle of the Sections, taking place at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing, NY, showed a strong Villanova team.  Easily advancing out of pool play into the Gold Bracket, Villanova cruised into the semi-finals to a matchup with Penn State.  Unfortunately, Villanova's Sectional rivals advanced to the finals in a 26-17 victory.  The finals concluded in a 21-20 victory for Penn State. link

 Villanova has strong showing at Citrus Invitational

At this warm-up for nationals Cornell and Villanova showed some depth. It was an all Cornell/Nova semifinals and finals. Cornell A came out on top beating Villanova's A team. Syracuse's snow flurries and frigid temperatures made this a memorable tournament. link

(from L to R) Mike Topf, Ali Volpe, Suzanne Reuter, Mike Sindoni, Zak Parchment, Priya Narahari, Ian Guenther, Kim Sikorski, Will Swalchick, Matt Cornish, Pat Burns,    Andy Ferens, Jack Menke

Nova Club Tennis Places 3rd at Sectionals

 Nova entered the tournament trying to repeat its epic performance and first place finish at last year's middle states tourney. This year's tournament started eerily similar as Nova's A team reached the semi's without being tested too much. Unfortunately just like last year, the best two teams (Nova A and Penn State A) met in the semi-finals. However, this time Penn State A came out on top by winning a clutch sudden death point to clinch the match. Nova A went on to easily defeat Delaware while Penn State A defeated Lehigh for 3rd and 1st place respectively. Nova's B team faced difficult pool play and found themselves in the consolation bracket. They battled cold strong winds outside and won the consolation bracket. link

c Ali Volpe, Angela Fuccillo, Dan Falkowski, Mike Brandao, Mike Topf, Zak Parchment, Sarah Cognetti, Will Swalchick, Adam Kucharski, Jamie Tonelli, 
Scott Lombardo, Priya Narahari, Andy Ferens, Mike Sindoni, Pat Burns, Aileen Hanuszek

Villanova Club Tennis Wins BIG at the Club Tennis National Tournament!

Villanova finishes in the Final Four after beating teams like
Ohio State, Georgia Tech, and Cornell in Austin, Texas on April 20-22.

(Top Row from L to R) Michael Sindoni, Andrew Ferens, Carl Fenzi, Ian Guenther, Christopher Moore
(Bottom Row from L to R) Jessica Hartzell, Shelby Vojtech, Anil Perez, Meghan Holley, Emily Witko, Priya Narahari

Villanova Club Tennis Wins the Penn State Regional Tournament
April 8-9

(from L to R) Priya Narahari, Meghan Hooley, Andy Ferens, Carl Fenzl, Mike Sindoni

Next up for the team:  Club Tennis Nationals in Austin, Texas!!

Villanova Club Tennis Takes First Place at the Second Annual USA Team Tennis on Campus Middle States Sectional Championship!

(from L to R) Alx Lienhard, Carl Fenzl, Zakari Parchment, Priya Narahari, Suzanne Reuter, Mike Sindoni, Shelby Vojtech,USTA official Bruce Kisthardt

On rainy homecoming weekend, seven of our most dedicated players traveled to The College of New Jersey to take part in the Second Annual USA Team Tennis on Campus Middle States Sectional Championship.  After winning all three of our matches on Saturday (against TCNJ, Delaware, & Philadelphia Biblical), we were 1 of 4 teams asked to come back to play in the finals. 

In the first round of Day 2, we had to face PSU's intimidating "Blue" team.  Priya Narahari, our amazing new freshman single's player, did a great job securing a big lead.  Carl Fenzl also won his match after, even after suffering a minor injury.  Mike Sindoni and Alx Lienhard also played great with their double partners, allows us to beat Penn State with a final game score of 26-19. 

We faced a second Penn State team in the finals, where our top players had to pull out their best tennis in order to win.  Carl had a tough match, and almost won in a 5-5 tiebreaker.  Priya played so great, winning her match 6-1.  We were down 3 games before our last mixed doubles match, so it was so important that we won with a big lead.  Mike Sindoni and Priya played an impressive match, winning 6-2, securing a 22-21 game win in the championships! 

Because we won this tournament, we received an automatic bid to the 2006 USA Team Tennis National Campus Championships!  They will be held at the University of Texas at Austin in April.  We also won $500 to go towards the National Tournament, individual trophies, and 'Villanova' will be added to a plaque at the USTA headquarters.

Special thanks to captains Carl Fenzl and Shelby Vojtech,  who gave up their last homecoming weekend to attend this tournament.  Also, thanks to those spectators and giraffes (Zak & Suz) that made the trip to cheer on our players.  GREAT JOB!

for complete story, go to the USTA Middle States Website

Congratulations to All that Competed in the

USA Team Tennis National Campus Championships!

On March 10 through March 13, eight of our team members went to San Diego to participate in this nation campus championship.  Although we didn't place as high as we would have liked, we were able to play some really great tennis against some of the best club teams out there, as well as meet some new friends.  We had a wonderful time at our second national tournament, and we hope to go back stronger and better next year! 

L to R: Lindsey Powers, Mike Sindoni, player in the tournament, Scott Lombardo, Suzanne Reuter

Half of our team spent the earlier part of the week in Palm Springs, where we were able to go to the Pacific Life Tournament in Indian Wells.  Jessica Hartzell, our president, set up a photo shoot with some of the players.  Although I can't remember her name, the woman in the middle holds a NCAA Singles Championship Title, and she received a wildcard entry into the tournament.  Our boys also met and took a picture with the famous, James Blake